


Nothing Really Matters Much, It's Doom Alone that Counts

by angelheadedhipster, hi_irashay, nitpickyabouttrains



Series: In a World of Steel-Eyed Death (and Men who are Fighting to be Warm) [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, M/M, Snippet, UST, and or cry about it, hauntedsexy, in it to win it, surprise sexy feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-18
Updated: 2013-10-18
Packaged: 2017-12-29 18:59:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1008898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelheadedhipster/pseuds/angelheadedhipster, https://archiveofourown.org/users/hi_irashay/pseuds/hi_irashay, https://archiveofourown.org/users/nitpickyabouttrains/pseuds/nitpickyabouttrains
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A triumphant return to the helicarrier, but there are still some surprises left.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing Really Matters Much, It's Doom Alone that Counts

The thing about getting knocked on your ass in a metal suit was, it hurt. Sure, he had built it himself, and sure, he had added in a certain measure of protection, padding, for situations just like this. It still stung. Even with practice, having been in fights before, having taken hits before, Tony was a man. He was human. All these other guys, they were superheroes. The key word there was “super.”

So when Thor’s hammer hit Captain America’s shield, the force bashed them all to the ground. But Thor and the Cap, they were not really injured. Thor was a god and Steve was a scientifically enhanced supersoldier who could barely be hurt. They both jumped right back up, barely affected at all. Not a hair out of place on their heads. It was right back to business as usual, taking care of the evil trickster god, contacting SHIELD.

Tony had gotten up with the rest of them, managing a snarky comment and everything. But, it had taken a little effort.

Once they got back to the helicarrier, Loki had been whisked off by some of Fury’s uniformed goons. Tony was not sorry to be rid of him. Loki had spent the entire ride back mocking Thor, upsetting the poor bastard. By the time they landed, Thor had practically stomped off, panties in a twist.

Tony had no idea where Steve had gone. He made his own excuses about getting out of the Iron Man suit and another SHIELD goon showed him off to a changing room. That’s where he was now, sitting in a sort of locker room. He had already had JARVIS release him from the suit, which was standing next to him, mostly intact. It had taken a few hits, but nothing he could not fix.

“Not too bad, old buddy,” he said quietly, letting his fingers run over the empty front of the suit.

His right hand stopped at the opening in the suit, which fit over his arc reactor. Lifting his left hand, he touched his own chest to the corresponding place.

He winced. He was sore. The arc reactor was metal, a machine, it did not have nerves or feelings, but it was a part of him. No matter how many times he build new ones or replaced it, it was still there, still built into his body, still a vital organ keeping him alive. And right now, he was feeling a little sensitive around it. The muscles around the arc reactor ached. Even his bones felt a little bruised. That’s what he got for getting into a fight with a Norse god.

“Is everything alright?” came a voice from behind Tony.

Tony jumped, just a little, startled. He let his hand fall from the suit, as he turned to look at whoever it was had walked in. Coulson, of course, looking worried.

Tony flashed the agent a bright smile, though not his brightest - that would seem false. He inclined his head. “Me? I am positively thrilled to be here, with the good guys.”

“Do you need to see a medic?” Coulson asked.

“Nah, I am fit as a fiddle,” Tony said, realizing only then that he still had a hand over his heart. He carefully moved his hand to his side and winked. “Never been better. Looking forward to taking down some more villains with the Dream Team you and Fury assembled.” He paused and added, “Aren’t you too important now to be checking up on me?”

Coulson seemed to relax just slightly. “Fury didn’t send me, Pepper did.”

Ah. Pepper. That made more sense. “Did she call to ask about the Cellist and you happened to mention I was in a little kerfuffle?”

“No, she called to check up on you. Apparently JARVIS reported some damage.”

Tony took a few steps over to Coulson’s side and threw his arm over the agent’s shoulder. “Well, you can tell Pepper you looked in on me and I am amazing. We won. Loki is in custody. And I am on a ship full of new toys to play with.”

Coulson made a noise of agreement and began to make their way out of the locker room and toward the main hall. There was a meeting going on, to discuss the Loki situation, and Tony wanted to be in on it. He also wanted to know more about SHIELD and what they were all doing there. He knew Fury was hiding something, and he was going to find out what.

+++

Bruce was in the lab when he heard the commotion - people in uniform running, Fury barking orders over the intercom, a general atmosphere of military readiness. He had been in the lab since he got on the ship, practically. After the rounds of introductions, he'd been sort of stashed there. _Banner likes science, put him with the science stuff, he can science it_. There wasn't really anything for him to do, yet, so he was just puttering around, trying to stay out of the way.

He tried to focus on what was in front of him - radiation readings, a sample of something similar to the mystery cube that SHIELD, apparently, just had lying around. Sure. He tried not to think about the implications of what he was looking at. He tried not to think about the whole team who had gone after Loki, the superheroes he was now working with. Most of all, he tried not to think about what he was doing here. What was expected of him. From him. From the Other Guy.

The sound of marching feet, lots of them, made him look up. Men with guns, walking down the hallway, flanking… oh. The supervillian, of course. He wasn't sure what he expected Loki to look like, but it wasn't quite that. He was so… shiny. And pale, as pale as anyone Bruce has ever seen, like he'd never been in the sun his whole life. And he was staring straight at Bruce.

Their eyes locked for what seemed like a very long time as Loki walked by the window, all those faceless men in black around him. And then Loki smiled at him, or, not smiled. Smirked. Bruce thought about all the times he had used the word “smirk” in his life, and how utterly inadequate those smirks had been. That. That was a smirk. Possibly THE smirk.

And then the phalanx rounded the corner, and they were gone.

Bruce looked through the window a moment more, wondering at what had just happened. It almost felt good to be stared at like that, so openly. Since he'd boarded this… helicarrier, yes, he was on a helicarrier, he'd gotten lots of sideways glances, lots of looks from the corners of eyes, lots of wide eyes that quickly looked away. When people talked to him, they looked pointedly right at him for as long as necessary, meeting his eyes like it was a challenge, and then immediately looked away, as if to prove they weren't staring. It was wearing on him, all this pointed non-staring. Loki stared. Stared long and hard, his eyes deep and shifting, something sparking in the back, something inhuman and crazy and unstoppable.

 _This is really happening_ , Bruce thought to himself, _and you are completely unprepared_.

A supervillain.

A supervillain with impossibly green eyes, who was zeroing in on Bruce in a way that was not entirely uncomfortable.

Bruce sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose.

+++

 _And so here we are at last_ , Loki thought, gazing at the weary faces around him on the plane. Watching Thor be struck down by both the cautious Soldier and the cheeky, arrogant Iron Man had been an unexpectedly delightful interlude in his plan. The ensuing battle and chaos had worried him slightly in its diversion from his intended course. But, they were back on schedule, headed for SHIELD's helicarrier at top speed. _Perfect_.

Loki did his best to look contrite, mindful of all eyes landing on him intermittently. Thor was foolish enough to believe his expression, and these others were ignorant enough to not know otherwise. Loki was counting on it, in fact, and felt reasonably confident in his smokescreens and planned deceptions. The cold, calculating look the Black Widow had given him as he boarded the plane, on the other hand... that was worrisome. From what Barton had told him, the Widow was potentially the most dangerous person to his scheme, the one most likely to see through it and head it off. Loki had given her ample reason, too - the set of her jaw and the tensing of her shoulders told him that only layers of deeply ingrained self-control were keeping him from her full wrath. _The vagaries of sentiment_ , he mused to himself. _It compromises them all._

Upon landing on SHIELD's helicarrier, Loki couldn't help but be impressed with the sheer size of the vessel. Midgardians were nothing if not ambitious in their technology and architecture. He was met by a squadron of heavily-armed agents, who corralled him unceremoniously in to the center of their ranks. A young agent nervously approached him to recheck his bonds; Loki guessed he was the newest recruit. The boy fell back quickly, assured that Loki's hands were properly secured. Loki scoffed internally as they began to march him forward - as if their flimsy shackles could hold him. As if people all sides would slow him down in the slightest.

Loki couldn't help but feel irritated at their arrogance - these Midgardians always assumed they were superior, that they were safe so long as they stuck to their rules and stayed in their boundaries. How little they knew. How rudely they would be awakened.

As his flank moved him deeper in to the helicarrier, Loki perked up. Banner was near, he could sense it, and Loki was about to get first the glimpse of how his game was playing out. His stomach fluttered with a thrill of excitement as they rounded a corner, and there. There, visible through far too many windows given the volatile nature of the lab's purpose, was Banner. Looking somehow both worn but invigorated as he adjusted a device and made some notes. Loki felt the beginnings of a wide smile begin to overtake his features. Everything was as he planned it, and it was only a matter of time before this realm was all his.

Suddenly Banner's eyes met Loki's with an almost perceptible shock, as if they were drawn by magnetism. Loki's smile widened further still, an unforeseen trickle of intrigue mixing with his previous pleasure. Banner's pupils dilated as his liquidy brown eyes tracked Loki's movement down the hall. Loki held his own gaze steady with Banner's until the last possible second, when he turned away with a final wry chuckle.

The group walked on, and Loki got lost in his own thoughts. He had not expected to... feel something upon seeing Banner, and was disturbed at the mere thought of it. Perhaps extended exposure to Midgard was affecting him, or he was too deep in to his own scheme to see sense. Isolation in whatever prison they had in store for him would probably do him some good. All was going according to plan so far, but it was not yet over. Loki would be damned if he mangled years of planning on a fleeting sentiment.

Entering the cell, Loki performed a cursory once over. He took stock of the glass walls, the long chute beneath, and the proximity of the doors and control panels along the outer chamber wall. It would be so easy to end it now, to walk out of here and kill Fury on his way back to Banner. Those brown eyes called to him in a way Loki had not planned for, and he longed to dissect Banner - and his mindless beast counterpart, for that matter - to his very core. _In a different time..._

"Ant, boot." Loki was viscerally aware of Fury quoting his earlier words back to him. This snapped him back to attention as he forcibly pulled himself out of his daze.

"It's an impressive cage," he said through a soft laugh. "Not built, I think, for me." Loki cocked his head to the side, his eyes presenting an overt challenge to Fury. His mind wandered briefly back to the cell's intended resident once more, before he firmly brought it back to the quietly seething agent in front of him. _Bring it on,_ Loki thought, _I’ve got you now_.


End file.
